Essay on AddisonAmerican Book Company, 1904 - 184 pages |
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Addi admired Æneid AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY ancient Anne appeared Bishop Boileau Cæsar called Cato celebrated character Charles chief church College critic dramatist Drury Lane theatre Dryden Duke Earl England English ESSAY ON ADDISON essayist excellent fame famous favour favourite France French genius Godolphin Greek Guardian Halifax HENRY VAN DYKE honour House of Bourbon House of Commons Iliad Ireland Italian Italy James Johnson King Lancelot Addison Latin verses letter literary literature Lord Lord Halifax Louis the Fourteenth Macaulay Macaulay's Magdalen College Marlborough ment ministry Miss Aikin Montagu Oxford paper Parliament poem poetry political Pope Pope's praise Professor published Queen readers reign remarkable Roman poet Rome satire satirist scholar Secretary Somers Spectator statesman Steele style Sunderland Swift Tatler thought Tickell tion Tories tragedy translation University Vincent Bourne Voltaire Whig party William writer written wrote Zachary Macaulay ΙΟ
Popular passages
Page 103 - like a distressed prince who calls in a powerful neighbour to his aid. I was undone by my auxiliary. When I had once called him in, I could not subsist without dependence on him.
Page 117 - We have not the least doubt that, if Addison had written a novel, on an extensive plan, it would have been superior to any that we possess. As it is, he is entitled to be considered, not only as the greatest of the English essayists, but as the forerunner of the great English novelists.
Page 35 - The numerous and violent claps of the whig party on the one side of the theatre, were echoed back by the tories on the other; while the author sweated behind the scenes with concern to find their applause proceeding more from the hand than the head.
Page 157 - Such a mark of national respect was- due to the unsullied statesman, to the accomplished scholar, to the master of pure English eloquence, to the consummate painter of life and manners. It was due, above all, to the great satirist, who alone knew how to use ridicule without abusing it ; who, without inflicting a wound, effected a great social reform ; and who reconciled wit and virtue, after a long and disastrous separation, during which wit had been led astray by profligacy, and virtue by fanaticism.
Page 141 - ... left behind, A task well suited to thy gentle mind ? Oh! if sometimes thy spotless form descend, To me, thy aid, thou guardian genius, lend! When rage misguides me, or when fear alarms, When pain distresses, or when pleasure charms, In silent whisperings purer thoughts impart, And turn from ill a frail and feeble heart, Lead through the paths thy virtue trod before, Till bliss shall join, nor death can part us more.
Page 136 - Now there can be no doubt that Pope's plan was most ingenious, and that he afterwards executed it with great skill and success. But does it necessarily follow that Addison's advice was bad. And if Addison's advice was bad, does it necessarily follow that it was given from bad motives? If a friend were to ask us whether we would advise him to risk his all in a lottery of which the chances were ten to one against him, we should do our best to dissuade him from running such a risk.
Page 106 - But that which chiefly distinguishes Addison from Swift, from Voltaire, from almost all the other great masters of ridicule, is the grace, the nobleness, the moral purity, which we find even in his merriment. Severity, gradually hardening and darkening into misanthropy, characterizes the works of Swift.
Page 116 - The plan. of The Spectator must be allowed to be both original and eminently happy. Every valuable essay in the series may be read with pleasure separately ; yet the five or six hundred essays form a whole, and a whole which has the interest of a novel. It must be remembered, too, that at that time no novel giving a lively and powerful picture of the common life and manners of England had appeared. Richardson was working as a compositor. Fielding was robbing birds
Page 94 - But his rare gifts were not exhibited to crowds or to strangers. As soon as he entered a large company, as soon as he saw an unknown face, his lips were sealed and his manners became constrained. None who met him only in great assemblies would have been able to believe that he was the same man who had often kept a few friends listening and laughing round a table, from the time when the play ended, till the clock of St. Paul's in Covent Garden struck four.
Page 54 - The heroic couplet was then the favorite measure. The art of arranging words in that measure, so that the lines may flow smoothly, that the accents may fall correctly, that the rhymes may strike the ear strongly, and that there may be a pause at the end of every distich, is an art as mechanical as that of mending a kettle or shoeing a horse, and may be learned by any human being who has sense enough to learn anything.